room makeover - a functional skills task

Learning Objectives

• we are learning to use plans and elevations to solve real-life problems
• we are learning to use calculations of areas, volumes, costs to make decisions
• we are learning to choose and use appropriate mathematics to solve problems
• we are learning to communicate our findings

Starter

• Watch the clip and jot down any mathematically useful information:

• Out of interest, what did you jot down?
• What mathematics comes out of this video clip for you?

Main outline:

• Imagine you are an interior designer given the job of redesigning this small living room.
• You don't have to use Katie's advice about design, but you are going to use the same room.
• You job will be to create a scale drawing and a scale model showing your plans to redesign this living room.

Main task 1:

• Read the following tasks beforeyou watch clips from the video again:
  • We need to try to estimate the size and layout of the room.
    • What shape is the room (be exact)?
    • How big did Katie say the area of the room was?
    • Are there any other clues about how big the dimensions of the room are?
      
      
  • When you watch the clip, try to draw a sketch of the shape of the room
    • Label your sketch with any details you hear or see.
    • Listen really carefully.
    • Watch closely for clues about the shape and size of the room - it's not as simple as you might first think.

• Watch part or all of the clip again if you/your teacher wish.
  • Tidy up your sketch.
  • Discuss with a learning partner how your sketches are similar and how they differ.
  • Share ideas and information.

Main task 2:

• Now let's do some working out:
  • We need to convert the area that Katie mentions in square feet into square metres.
  • You ought to know that 1 foot = 30.5cm so 1 ft = 0.305m (roughly)
  • This means that 1 square foot = (0.305)² m²
  • Use a calculator to turn the area of the room from square feet into square metres.
    
    
• Check your answers using this widget:

(the correct answer is ... scroll down)

• Katie says the room has an area of approximately 180 square feet. This is about 16.72m².
  
  
• Now we need to estimate the width of the room. Use this picture taken from the video:

(suggested answers below)

• I'd reckon that, as a reasonable guess, it's about 4½ door widths.
• A standard interior door is approximately 85cm.
• So the wall is 4.5 × 0.85 = 3.825 m wide.

• Since this is the result of quite a bit of guess work, let's round that to 3.8m.

• You can use your own answer if you wish as long as it lies between 3m and 5m.

Main task 3:

• Now let's have a look at the information you should have gathered about the room so far:
  • It's roughly square, but probably slightly rectangular in outline
  • There is a corner chopped off the room for the fire-place.
    • Missed that? Look at this screenshot!

• The area of the room is about 16.72m²
• The width of the room is about 3.8m

• So here's a sketch I drew which shows all this. How does it compare with yours?

Main task 4:

• This task is suitable for individual, paired or small group work.
  • Discussion and collaboration is to be encouraged... but ensure each learner produces their own record of the process.

• Calculating other important lengths. (10 min)
  • Next you need to estimate the length of the room and the size of the triangle removed for the fireplace.
  • Use what you know about finding areas of rectangles and areas of triangles to do this.
  • Estimate the height of the room by comparing it with something you know.
  • Estimate the width and height of the windows and arches and how far they are from the corners of the room.
  • A Word document you can print with some video stills is included below. You may wish to print this to help you make your estimates.

interior design task.doc

• Details
• Download
• 2 MB

• Be ready to justify your reasoning.
  
  
• Produce a quick poster or presentationwhich explains how you arrived at every length you've estimated or calculated.
  • You might use paper or ICT to do this, as appropriate
  • Either way, gather your results onto your best possible sketch.
  • If you have time, for an extension activity, you may wish to add sockets, light switches and vents to your sketch: in real life the location of these would have an important effect on where you placed certain items of furniture.

Main task 5:

• Produce a careful scale drawing of the room on A4 paper.
  • Decide on a scale to use. Discuss it with a learning partner or teacher if you can.
  • Make sure it will mean your drawing takes up most of the sheet of A4, but isn't too big to fit.

• Use a ruler and a sharp pencil. Ink it in once you're sure you're right.
• You might choose to use colour on the floor to show the wood or carpet.
• Even better if ... you cut the carpet or wooden floor out of another textured piece of paper or cloth.
• You might prefer to work using ICT...
• Microsoft Publisher or Word would do if you use the vector art tools and set the grid to 1mm or 2mm increments.

• Here's an example - don't peek until you've done yours

• Make scale models of furnitureyou wish to use in your interior design.
  • Here's an example of a cabinet like Katie's, drawn to scale (I'm not going to tell you the scale I chose- that's for you to decide):

• Make them out of thin cardboard or thick paper nets. High quality photo printer paper is ideal.
• Have fun with coloured pencils/crayons/pens or use a computer and colour printer to make them look good.

• You'll learn more mathematics by working out the scale size of at least some of your models yourself, but if you get stuck or simply want to speed up the process once you've proven that you can work it out yourself, I've created this little widget for you:
• Scale drawing assistant widget:

Finishing this model would make a good homework project.

Plenary:

• What mathematics have you learnt by doing this activity?
• What was the most successful part of your project? Why?
• How could you improve your work?
• What will you learn next?

last edited Jul 8, 2011 1:39 am
feedback about this activity is welcome. Please include 'room makeover' at the beginning of your post.